Particularly well represented are nineteenth century cloth bindings and twentieth century book jackets. These include A Chum Worth Having published by Blackie and Son and The True Heart by Sylvia Warner (1929) with a dust jacket illustrated by Edward Bawden.

Warner, The True Heart, illus. EB, Finzi

A Chum Worth Having, Blackie and Son, Childrens Collection

The upright case features a selection of delightfully designed twentieth century children’s annuals, such as School Yarns for Girls and The Boy’s Budget, serving asa wonderful, nostalgic insight into childhoods gone by. The bottom level of the cabinet is carpeted with a selection of King Penguin books from our printing collection. Published between 1939 and 1959 the titles in this individually illustrated series were the first books with hard and colour printed covers published by Penguin.

Similarly, two titles from our collection of the Britain in Pictures series are displayed (Orwell’s The English People and Lynd’s English Children). With their strikingly coloured book jackets, this series was published by Harper Collins between 1941-1949 with the intention of producing morale boosting social histories whilst Britain was gripped by WW2.

Peril and Adventure, William St Clair collection

So why not come and visit us and pick your favourite cover, in my opinion Peril and Adventure will take some beating!